Territorial instinct

The rai really started coming down during The Johnnys' set. It wasn't torrential or anything, but kind of a bummer. I felt very prescient for bringing both an umbrella and rain jacket. As for The Johnnys, I can well imagine them rocking out in some bar in the frozen north, where their black leather stage duds might also be a bit more practical. They have an AC/DC-ish love of double entendres and a hard rock sound that, as mentioned earlier, made me think of DOA.

First some introducing and T-shirt tossing by CBC personality Lucy Van Oldenbarneveld.



And also a chance to win a custom guitar from Blouin Guitars (sample below).



Alrighty, on to the rock, with the Johnnys! Mainwoman Veronica Johnny is six-foot-something and hails from Fort Smith, NWT.



Like Hexes and Ohs, the core of the band is a married couple (the other half in this case is drummer Dave Johnny).




Tim Bones mans the six strings.



Oriana Barbato handles the low end. She also plays with Random Order and a dizzying variety of acts when not doing her own experimental thing.



Those Johnnys!



Oriana sings!



More Tim!



Guitar action!



Shady action ... The Johnnys seem to share taste in guitars with The Johnnies.



More leather!



More Oriana!



Faceoff action!



Dave sings!


Hey you!



And now a guest appearance by the festival's fanciest dresser, Mikmaq artist Thomas Clair.



Closeup action!



And so on!





I think the sun had gone back into hiding for good at this point ...



The end!



Their next show is tomorrow in Toronto at Cherry Cola's Rock'n'Rolla Cabaret.

• Show reminder: It's Ottawa Explosion time, people! The folks from Bruised Tongue starts things off with sets from The Visitors, Demon's Claws, Holy Cobras, Male Nurse Band, Mannequin and Knifemare at Babylon; over at Cafe DeKcuf you'll find Whiskey Bent and Hellbound, The Hobo Outlaws, The Beer Barons and It's Asshole Time! Foam Lake and Shuyler Jansen play Zaphod's; Adam Saikaley and Scattered Clouds drift into Raw Sugar; The Elmdale hosts Eigger and Go Long!; Swift Years and Poppa are at the Avant-Garde.